10 May 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - On 15-16 May 2013, the international course of the Learning Platform on Human Mobility (LPHM) entitled “Addressing public perceptions of migrants, mastering communication strategies and partnering with the media” will take place in Antwerp, Belgium. This course is part of a series of learning opportunities resulting from an ambitious partnership between UNITAR and the Flemish Government, in collaboration with the City of Antwerp.

The LPHM is the first global platform dedicated to training local and regional authorities in the fields of migration and human mobility through a blended learning approach. In the next two years, it will deliver training to hundreds of local and regional government officials globally. For the Government of Flanders, the Learning Platform serves as a spring board for sharing Flemish insights and expertise on issues of migrant integration. In attracting policy-makers and practitioners from around the globe to Flanders, the LPHM offers a place of learning, sharing, and reflection on both the opportunities and challenges afforded by a more mobile world.

The LPHM is also initiated at a time when the city of Antwerp will inaugurate the historically significant Red Star Line Museumon on 28 September 2013.

LPHM courses rely on blended learning, guided by the practical knowledge of community leaders, academics, civil society representatives, policy makers, and other experts. “In this way, the UNITAR Learning Platform (LPHM) could ‘pave the way’ for local policy makers to support and implement innovative policies that have proven their use elsewhere” as Ms. Fatima Mansour Shama, New York’s City’s Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs, described when she took part in a preparatory meeting for the LPHM in Antwerp last July.

The first LPHM course will be led by an international team of senior professionals: Prof. Dr. Han B. Entzinger, Professor of Migration and Integration Studies at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam; Ms. Amy Selwyn, Managing Director at Storytegic; and Dr. Colleen Thouez of the School of International Service (American University) and UNITAR. Approximately 15 participants will take part in the course, representing regional, municipal and local governments and media from Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium; Plock, Mazovia, Poland; Durban, KwaZulu-Natal South Africa; and Diourbel, Senegal.

Other courses offered in 2013 will address: supporting entrepreneurship and fostering social cohesion in migrant communities.